Leather article and method of making same



' March 26, 1935. s. TROY 1,995,828

LEATHER ARTICLE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed July 11, 1935 99/JQWENTOR W 96 Mn Patented Mar. 26, 1935 UNITED STATES LEATHER ARTICLEAND METHOD OF MAKING SAlVIE Seymour Troy, New York, N. Application July11, 1983, Serial No. 679,899

9 Claims.

This invention relates to new and improved articles of leather, and moreparticularly to a method of making leather articles simulating inappearance the skin of reptiles and to the prodnot of such a method.

An object of the invention is to produce an article of the desiredcharacter which is easily manufactured, strong, readily worked, andwhich possesses the appearance both as to grain and luster of reptileskin. 7

A further object of the invention is to provide a method for pleating,backing and stitching sheets of leather so as to produce a backedleather fabric having the appearance of reptile skin.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relationand order of one or more ,of such steps with respect to each of theothers, and the article possessing the features, properties, and therelation of elements, which are exemplified in the following detaileddisclosure, and the scope of the. application of 25 which will beindicated in the claims.

30 which:

Figure 1 is a plan view, greatly enlarged, of a portion of an articleembodying one form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of Fig. 1 along d the lines 22;

Fig. 3 is a'plan view,.greatly enlarged, of a portion of another articleembodying the invention and illustratinga different use of the elementsof the inventionto procure a distinct 40 and difierentdesign; and

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are respectively views in perspective of steps in theprocess of the invention, Fig. 4 being a view o'f a sheet of leatherbefore treatment, Fig. 5 a view of the same sheet after having beensubjected to the first step in the process, and'Fig. 6 a view of thesame sheet after having been affixed to a backing as hereinafterdescribed. 7

It has been customary to use ornamental leathers and more especiallyreptile skins, such as alligator skins and snake skins, in .themanufacture of various articles-for example, womens shoes, handbags,etc; Where strain is to be placed upon the leather, it has been foundthat 5 thereptile skin, and particularly snake skin,

has frequently failed, as its tensile strength is not great.Furthermore, much of the snake skin employed has been imported at highcost, so that its use has been practically prohibited on articles madeto sell at cheap or moderate prices.

This invention contemplates the preparation of a leather coated fabricwhich simulates in appearance and texture the reptile skins heretoforeused, and yet which can be produced at relatively small cost, and whichis sturdy, pliable and easily worked. I

In the production of an article of the character described, a suitableblock or sheet of leather is first selected for the facing material,such as is illustrated, for example, in Fig. 4. Leather such as hasordinarily been used in the manufacture of shoe uppers maybe suitable.Preferably its outer face should be adapted to receive and retain arelatively high gloss or polish. This sheet of leather is then subjectedto a pleating operation such, as has heretofore been customary inconnection, with cloth fabrics of all kinds, and which comprises brieflya folding and pressing of the sheet under suitable temperatureconditions so as to impart to it a multiplicity of small parallel pleatssuch as are shown, for example, in Fig. 5. While it is intended thatpleats of any desired size may be employed, the sheet should be sotreated preferably that the pleats are of such size and proximity as toimpartto the finished article when stitched, as hereinafter described,the appearance of the grain and'luster of the skin being imitated.

After the sheet of leather has been pleated it is preferably treatedwith an adhesive and then dried, so that the pleats may be retainedduring the further handling of the sheet. A suitable adhesive for thepurpose described is the cement or-' dinarily employed in shoemanufacture for uniting the upper to the lining of the shoe. The ce- 40ment is applied to the rough or unpolished surface of the pleated sheetand maypreferably be applied in such quantity as to substantially fillthe corrugations made by the pleating operation. It has been found thata sheet of pleated material .45 which is not treated with the cement orwith a similar adhesive has a tendency to pull,that is, the pleats,particularly along the edges of the material, are very readily pulledand flattened out and the sheetis rather hard to handle where a 5uniform result is desired. The treatment with the cement asdescribedresults in imparting to the pleated material a resilientproperty. which it does not otherwise possess, and insures that thepleats will be retainedintact during subsequent handling. Furthermore,it is highly desirable that in the finished article the corrugationsformed by the pleating should be provided with a filler of some kind toinsure that the pleated surface will not flatten out in use. The cementtreatment which has just been described admirably performs thatfunction.

- After the cement has been applied to the pleated sheet and has beenallowed to thoroughly soak into the sheet, a backing sheet or strip isapplied by means of any suitable adhesive. In Fig. 6, the pleatedleather sheet is shown at 10, and the backing sheet at 11. This backingmay comprise either a soft, thin sheet of leather or any suitablefabric. It should have such body preferably as to resist stretching inthe subsequent operations of the process. The backing need not be sofirmly fixed to the pleated outer sheet as to be permanently atttachedthereto. It is only essential that the two sheets be sufficiently unitedso as to prevent relative movement, one with respect to the other,during the stitching steps which are hereinafter described.

The pleated facing sheet, with its backing affixed thereto, maythen bemarked orscored to simulate the creases and folds which are found in theskins of reptiles. This is preferably accomplished by stitching thepleated outer sheet to the backing with a plurality of rows ofstitching, which may take any desired design. For example, in Fig. 1, adesign simulating snake skin is shown in which the rows of stitches 12joining the outer pleated sheet with the backing, run at right angles tothe pleats l3, and at regular intervals across the sheet. Such atreatment imparts to the sheet the appearance of a grained skin; thesurface'of which is made up of a mass of small rectangular elevations.The appearance of snake skin may be heightened if the threads employedare colored to simulate the color in the creases of the skin which isbeing copied. A cross section of the finished article is shown at Fig.2, in which 11 represents the backing sheet, 10 the pleated surfacesheet, 13 the pleats, and 14 the adhesive material employed.

In Fig. 3 is shown another design simulating alligator skin. As shown,the pleats are again relatively small, parallel and closely proximate.The stitching in this case comprises a plurality of rows running roughlydiagonally across the pleats in each direction. Asa result, a pluralityof roughly diamond-shaped areas are' produced, each of which comprisessections of several adjacentpleats. The effect is to reproduce inappearance alligator skin.

It will be obvious that any design may be employed in stitching thefabric. Preferably, where a natural skin is copied, the stitches followas closely as possible the seams and creases in the skin. Where stitchesare employed to mark the creases, it will be obvious that they serve asa means for permanently uniting the pleated sheet and the backing sheet.Under these circumstances the cement used in the earlier steps of theprocess may act only as a temporary bond.

The finished stitched article may be satisfactorily used in any of anumber of Ways. It may be employed in shoe construction where either theentire shoe or small inserts may comprise the material of the invention.It may also be employed in the manufacture of handbags, satchels, lightlugga e, belts, etc.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above process, and certainmodifications in the article which embodies the. invention may be madewithout departing from its scope, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawingshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language,.might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, a facing sheet of leather and a backing sheet, pleatsin said facing sheet, and a plurality of lines of visible stitchingjoining said facing sheet to said backing and crossing said pleats andadapted to hold said pleated sheet against extension.

2. In combination, a facing sheet of leather and an inelastic backingsheet, pleats in said facing sheet, and a plurality of substantiallyparallel lines of visible stitching joining said facing sheet to saidbacking and crossing said pleats and adapted to hold said facing sheetagainst leather having a surface adapted to receive and retain arelatively high polish, a backing of leather, adhesive means for holdingsaid sheet and said backing together and adapted to sub stantially fillthe interstices between said pleats and said backing, and score lines onsaid facing sheet crossing said pleats.

6. In combination, a facing sheet of leather and a backing sheet, aplurality of small, parallel, closely proximate pleats in said facingsheet, ad-

hesive means for holding said sheets together and adapted tosubstantially fill the interstices between said facing sheet and saidbacking sheet,

and means comprising a plurality of rows of stitching uniting saidsheets and scoring said facing sheet at an angle to said pleats.

7. The method which comprises pleating a sheet of leather, coatingv saidsheet with an adhesive and drying, applying a backing to. said sheet andscoring said sheet at an angle to said pleats.

8. The method which comprises pleating a sheet of leather, coating saidsheet with a cement and drying, adhesively aflixing to the coatedsurface of said sheet a backing, and stitching said backing to saidsheet along lines which cross said pleats.

9. In the process of manufacturing a leather imitation of reptile skincomprising a pleated facing sheet of leather stitched to a backingsheet,

the step which comprises applying an adhesive to the under-surface ofsaid facing sheet and drying before joining said facing and backingsheets.

. SEYMOUR TROY.

